Casablanca's 20% --great until you nd a payout

[juggler]

I was informed by a Casablanca operator today that to actually collect a payout from your account w/your 20% bonus incl you have to bet 5X your initial deposit. Then you also have to bet for 30 days after your initial payment. Then you have to call between 9-11am only and can't call at 3pm to schedule a payout tomorrow . If you don't complete these then you forfeit your 20% bonus payout .

Cmon .... lets be a bit more upfront w/our advertising and rules and regs. I'm not looking for a quick buck and have bet 3X what I put in and been there for 20+ days. I just hate surprises from any book -- put all your rules regs and hoops to jump through all on the same page as your bonus.Otherwise its a fine book good website & good cust svc

I guess I should have known 20% bonus always always has a catch.

[Brick]

I was informed of all the stipulations before I signed up,I don't understand why you were not. Overall I have been very happy with Casablanca and their new web site.

[Underdog7]

juggler - I had the same experienced with Casablanca. I was giving them so much action and when I asked for a payout I was told exactly the same as yours. I met one of their requirements (with no problem at all) 5x of your initial deposit but I was surprised about the 30 day period. I was told that I couldn't withdraw my initial deposit plus the 20% bonus within 30 days but anything exceeded that amount is ok.

It wouldn't had been a problem nor a surprise for me if everything was explained beforehand. Sure, it is also our responsibility as players to ask what are we getting into, but please don't just keep on attracting customers with 20% bonuses, pagers, referrals without explaining the "real deal".

Casablanca is a good out but I am not in favor of that one rule that you have to play 5x of your initial deposit and at the same time you have to keep it for 30 days to get the whole amount. I think the fair deal is "either or". Just my opinion. Good luck to all!!!

[warawara]

I too have an acount w/ casablanca, and was told in advance about their policy regarding bonuses. I have no complaints about the service online or over the phone, when offering a 20% bonus you must have certain stipulations to avoid people taking advantage of it, and come on guys 5 times roll over and 30 days is not alot to ask. Thats just my personal opinion.

[Underdog7]

warawara or toratora whatever - I am sure a lot of guys here in this forum don't take advantage of bonuses (that includes me), but hey, if it is offered why not take it. As I said, it wouldn't be a problem nor anyone will not be caught in surprised "if everything is laid on the table" just before the action starts. Good luck pal!!!

[zippy]

Of all the places I looked into before the start of the football season, Casablanca had the most stringent requirements for the bonus, which in itself is not particularly unreasonable, given the fact that their bonus amount is unusually high.

I was informed of Point #1 (5x original deposit), and Point #2 (30 day minimum), but I don’t recall any mention of Point #3 (9-11 AM only withdrawals).

The 30 day minimum was presented ambiguously to me. I asked for clarification several times, and mostly the person just kept re-reading the policy to me, but I gather that it means you have to actually make bets on 30 different days. In other words, you can’t deposit on September 1, bet once or twice a week for over five times your original deposit, and then pull out your money on October 1. You have to make at least one wager on each of thirty different days. At least that’s what they seemed to be saying.

So, if you bet on Sundays only during the football season, it would take you the better part of two seasons to fulfill the minimum requirements for the bonus, even if you bet ten times the original deposit every month. That seems kind of silly. I can understand requiring a certain level of action—maybe five times original deposit, maybe less, maybe even more—but to require that bets be artificially spread around to different days, and for that matter to limit the withdrawal hours so narrowly, is a less direct and less honest way of trying to increase action by increasing inconvenience.

Still, they’re free to offer whatever they want to offer, with whatever strings they choose to attach to it, and the player is free to sign up or not, under those conditions.

I agree, though, that it’s important those conditions be clearly stated up front.

[sportshobby]

Zippy, I think you misunderstood the 30 day thing. I believe it is a total time period of 30 days from your initial deposit.

But Juggler is right - we see time and time again a bonus with stipulations that aren't spelled out. In addition to having the clerk try explain them, there's no reason not to have the conditions clearly spelled out on the web site (in the same place that the bonus is advertised).

[zippy]

Thanks for the clarification, sportshobby. You’re probably right. The person I talked to on the phone implied otherwise, but she spoke hesitantly and uncertainly, so she may well have misinformed me.

Wouldn’t be a bad idea for someone from Casablanca to respond to this thread, by the way, to establish for certain what their policy is.

[Casablanca]

Juggler

I understand your frustration but please believe we have made it a point this year to stress with our operators to explain the policy thoroughly. In fact I have come into Bettorsworld numerous times in the past to explain the policy most recently on August 14th in the Subject titled "Casablanca". Fortunately, we do record the marketing calls and if you would like to call me we can go back to the tapes at the time you opened your account and check to see if the operator forgot to mention the policy. If this proves to be the case I will be happy to let you keep the bonus.

As a result of the occasional complaint about this stringent policy we do let players who are unhappy with the policy choose a 20% FREE PLAY instead of taking the bonus. This has proved to be more popular with the those who want to come in and play for a few days and then leave. I will also check to see if this was offered.

Just for the record here is the policy:

20% Bonus on New Accounts (Player must be active for a period of thirty days and wager five times the amount of their deposit) Active to us means at least one play a week. If the player only plays NFL then his bets on four Sundays would make him active.

20% FREE PLAY (One Time FREE Play worth 20% of Deposit. Win the bet and the winnings are credited-Lose the bet and your account stays the same.)

I understand that many people may feel that the BONUS policy is stringent but when your in the Post-Up business the companies with these policies in place are the ones that survive.

However, you are 100% right that it should be clearly defined up front for the player which we have stressed to all of our phone operators. Overall, I do believe that they have done a good job of it this year.

Just for clarification or if anyone is interested here are some of the other bonuses we offer:

-10% FREE PLAY on all NEW MONEY deposits over $500
-Re-imburse transfer fees on all Deposits over $250

We also offer a "Total Rewards Program" where players accumulate points every time you make a wager. These points can be used to make FREE WAGERS.

We try to be creative and we really want customers to enjoy playing with us. We worked real hard this year making some good improvements(mainly internet speed and ease of navigation) that I hope are not overshadowed by the so-called stringent bonus policy.

Underdog7

I am surprised that you have never seen me post this policy. It has never changed over the last two years and I assumed that with your extensive dealings with offshore books you would be sure to ask up front what the policy for bonuses is. However, this does not excuse one of my operators from explaining the policy to you and I will be happy to check the tapes on your deposit as well.

If anyone else runs into problems I will be happy to look at their situation and make a decision. These policies are guidelines and although the regular phone operators are not in a position to make a decision in a tough situation I will always be happy to bend the rules under certain circumstances.

Thanks for your time and the opportunity to explain.

As an end note there are many Bettorsworld customers who had past accounts with us that currently have player points available. I have decided to run the 20% Bonus or FREE 20% PLAY throughout Football for all NEW Accounts and Re-Activations.

Looking forward to hearing from you soon.


Dave Johnson
Casablanca Sports
dave@betCBS.com

[Underdog7]

Dave Johnson,
It is obvious that I didn't see your rules and that created the confusion. Before I open up an account ("anywhere" not only with you guys), I always ask about bonus restrictions to avoid conflicts. You could check your tape if you wish and I was only informed about the 5x initial deposit rollover and nothing about the 30 day period.
However, I would say, I am very much satisfied the way the call was handled (I will not mention the clerk's name) from the time I opened the account till the end when I asked for a payout. She got the patience and it was handled in a very professional manner.
Now, I got another question here for clarifications. I still have some player points and my last transaction was a withdrawal but my account balane is 0. It was a withdrawal but less than the amount I initially deposited. If I decided to re-up, will I still be entitled for 20%? Thanks for your time.

[Brick]

I thimk Casablanca has been more than fair and appreciate Dave coming in here again because we are to ignorant to remember to use the SEARCH function.

[Underdog7]

Brick - I like that word IGNORANT. Could please use the SEARCH function you were saying if you could remember what date the posting was made? And one more thing, are you an employee of ************, whoops never mind.

[sportshobby]

I am really glad to see that Casablanca has now set up NETeller for transactions. This should make things much more convenient.

[Casablanca]

Underdog7

You can definitely get the 20%. Do me a favor and send me an e-mail when you re-up so that I can apply the bonus to your account. (dave@betcbs.com) That way you won't have any problems in marketing.

Let me know how much you deposited and whether you want the 20% BONUS or 20% FREE PLAY.

I am interested to see what you think about the improvements on the spped of the internet.

Thanks

Dave Johnson
Casablanca Sports
betCBS.com

[juggler]

Dave -- thanks for responding to my concerns .. My problem is that I opened the account on-line and never spoke to an operator. So I was not made aware of the policy but if you say your operators make it clear then I believe you.
I have never had a problem with the site or the cust svc as I note in my original post but some responses here make it seem like I had a complaint w/the site. Not true.

maybe you could post the bonus policy on the site ..as i really don't see any downside to doing it. Other than that --great book great job